There's civic pride, and then there's the earnest search for a local identity. "In Ya Mouf" from Joe Good's mix Hi May I Help You? goes way beyond the Chiefs, the Royals and barbecue. It calls for all local hip-hop artists to rise up, resist the temptation to ape any of the game's commercially accepted styles (East Coast, West Coast, Down South) and be "simply homegrown." Good proves that it doesn't take a fat cat to pronounce our scene legit -- what it takes is a group of local artists who believe in themselves enough to remain locally based and to rep KC whenever they leave it. If hip-hop was born of the streets, why pretend like you grew up slangin' beats and rhymes in somebody else's hometown? We got all we need right here, and we can still innovate. Thanks, Joe Good, for reminding us.
